


Percentages/ Traveling

by PeroxidePirate



Category: Tortall - Pierce
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-24
Updated: 2010-02-24
Packaged: 2017-10-07 12:45:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeroxidePirate/pseuds/PeroxidePirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The daydreams of Squire Neal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Percentages

Neal was 19. That meant 4 years was, what, 20 percent of his life? No, 4 was 20 percent of 20. Did that mean it was 19 percent of 19? That wasn't quite right. Kel would know.

Neal was 19. That meant 4 years – the amount of time he'd known Kel – was just a small percentage of his life. He'd gone 15 years before even meeting her.

How had he gotten so used to seeing her every day? The last two months seemed unreal in a way that had nothing to do with being a squire instead of a page. A day just wasn't complete until he'd talked to her.

They would be apart for most of the next four years. Nothing he could do would change that, short of...

Well, there was that.

He could quit his training and join up with the King's Own.

That was a long shot. There were three companies in the Own, only one of which would be traveling with Kel and her knight master. That was only a, what, 30% chance? No, 33% – he could never remember that one – that they would even be together.

Together? Did he really mean..? That they would be together. Yes. He meant it like that. Why, oh why, had he chosen this point in time to figure it out?

"Queenscove!" barked a sharp voice, somewhere to Neal's right. "The path is this way."

Neal blinked, forcing himself to pay attention to his new knight-mistress. "Path," he echoed. "Right." It was more like a very faint trail through the long grass, actually. Truth be told, he wasn't much for tracking. Kel, on the other hand...

Neal sighed. It seemed there was no limit to the ways he could miss her.


	2. Traveling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neal has another idea.

"Lady Alanna?" Neal called, for what could have been the twentieth time that day, or could have been only the fifteenth.

Fortunately they were on a road that day, riding abreast, so she didn't have to stop so he could catch up. "Yes?"

"Will it always be like this? Just the two of us, traveling around?"

"No," she replied, patiently. "One day, three and a half years from now, this happy experiment will come to an end. Then I'll go back to traveling by myself, and you'll go on to... whatever you decide to go on to."

Neal thought about that for a moment. "Don't you think it would be educational for me to travel with a larger force some of the time?"

The Lioness gave her squire a look that was just shy of a glare.

"For instance, I know you sometimes ride with the King's Own. I think that could be a very good experience..." He trailed off, seeing her response.

His knight-mistress still held her reins loosely in both hands, but she somehow gave the impression of an exasperated mother, standing with her arms crossed. "Does this, by any chance, have something to do with a certain young woman who's currently squire to the leader of the Own?"

"Possibly," he admitted.

Alanna arched an eyebrow. "I see."

"But it's not like that!" Neal insisted, quickly. "We're just friends. Good friends – almost like brother and sister, really. And she's too young, much too young for me to – what?"

Alanna burst out laughing. "My boy, I think you're wrong about that," she said, when she finally stopped. Then, seriously, she added, "You're a squire: I can't stop you thinking about romance. But if you have time to do anything about it, that's proof I'm not doing my job. Understood?"

Neal ducked his head in an exaggerated bow. "Yes, ma'am." After a short pause, he asked, "So we're not riding with the King's Own, then?"


End file.
